


Wrote My Way Out

by TheSecondBatgirl



Category: Power Rangers Turbo, Power Rangers Zeo, Power Rangers in Space
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-02-06
Updated: 2017-02-06
Packaged: 2018-09-22 10:58:33
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,741
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9605003
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheSecondBatgirl/pseuds/TheSecondBatgirl
Summary: Before he had become a Power Ranger, Adam had a plan. But saving the world meant that plans had to be put on hold.





	

**Author's Note:**

  * For [AceQueenKing](https://archiveofourown.org/users/AceQueenKing/gifts).



Before he had become a Power Ranger, Adam had a plan. He’d always wanted to be a writer, and had been telling stories for as long as he could remember.

He especially loved superheroes, science fiction, and fantasy, so seeing the Power Rangers, real life superheroes, had gotten him to finish his first novel. It was a first novel, not fit for showing anyone, but it had cemented his decision to be a writer; to write stories about superheroes that looked like him.

He’d started to do research, and began to dream about going to the University of Iowa for their creative writing program, or to NYU or Columbia. He read a _lot_ and wrote even more. He’d tried making his own comic book once, but had declared that a miserable failure due to his lack of artistic talent.

Then he went to Angel Grove. Then he became a Power Ranger. It didn’t stop him from writing—if anything, it gave him more inspiration than he’d ever dreamed of. But he had made a commitment to saving the world, and if he had to stay in Angel Grove to do it, then he would just have to go to Angel Grove University one day. There was hope that maybe they’d defeat the evil and he could move on, but superheroes had been his inspiration, and Adam knew that you just didn’t walk away from the fight.

He took Angel Grove High’s creative writing classes until they wouldn’t let him take them any longer. He wrote stories about good people, ordinary people, stepping up to do the right thing, to be a hero when they were called on.

(When he met Tanya, he may or may not have written a series of short stories about a beautiful baseball player who moonlighted as a vigilante.) 

(When he eventually showed them to her, she thought they were wonderful and kissed him.)

His resolve to stay until the fight was through was only strengthened by Tanya’s decision to put off her own dream. She had turned down the contract that would have started her career.

“After all,” she had told him. “It wasn’t like with Kim; singing isn’t as age sensitive. I can always go back and try again when the fight is over.”

When college applications were due, Adam hesitated over filling them out. He applied to Angel Grove, and to Cross World, because the Machine Empire was still out there. He couldn’t just leave. But the thought of the program at Iowa was still haunting him, so he applied, sending in a resume full of short stories and his most recent novella. (Still a work in progress, still not good enough, but it was a story of justice and legacy and love, and Adam thought it said everything about him that needed to be said.)

He didn’t think that he would get in.

He couldn’t stop staring at the acceptance letter, one that not only offered him admission but also a partial scholarship. This was his dream, his chance.

In the end, he deferred for a year. He wasn’t ready to leave the Power Rangers yet, not with the Machine Empire still a threat. He didn’t tell anyone that he’d been accepted, because what if they told him to leave? He wanted to stay. He needed to stay. He was a Power Ranger, and he knew that the rest of his team was staying. He didn’t want to say goodbye, not to his friends, and not to Tanya.

So he took a job as a stuntman, while Kat helped tutor summer school, and Tommy raced cars, and Tanya worked as a DJ, and tried to deal with yet another Power change, and another new teammate. Losing Zordon, losing _Rocky_ , was hard, but change was a part of being a Ranger, and he threw himself into fighting Divatox the same way he had with the Machine Empire, and Rita and Zedd before them.

He wasn’t expecting to be told to leave.

It hurt, more than he thought. He wasn’t ready to move on with his life. He had put everything on hold, so that he could continue to be a Ranger. The battle wasn’t done, the fight wasn’t won. But he found a replacement, and tried to smile as he told Carlos he was the new Green Turbo Ranger. He wasn’t sure he succeeded.

When he went home, everyone else went on to their dreams. Tommy raced, Kat was accepted to the ballet, Tanya had her contract, and he? He had turned down his dream, while they had all gotten theirs.

(A little voice in the corner of his mind whispered that the only reason he had gotten in at all was because of the Power. They were being rewarded for their service, but did he even deserve his spot?)

His parents couldn’t understand why he had deferred, what could have possibly kept him there. He made all sorts of excuses, and tried to keep writing, reminding himself that it was only one more year before he could start. But it was harder to find the words, to find inspiration, when he had to sit in the monster shelters and watch the battles instead of helping.

Sometimes he wondered if this was why Billy had left. Other times he didn’t need to wonder at all.

He still kept in touch with Tanya. He loved her, and he knew she loved him. That was never in doubt. He did his best to be supportive, to tell her how proud he was of her, while never letting her see how he was hurting.

She asked about how he was, every time they spoke, and though it hurt him he turned down her offers to come visit while she was recording her album, instead speaking in vague terms about the novel he was working on. He knew that she was hurt that he hadn’t come visit, but he knew that she deserved better.

The Powers switched, and he heard whispers from others that something had happened to Zordon. Niggling thoughts, all the time—if he had been there, maybe it would have gone differently. He did write some, works going to darker places than before, filled with despair instead of hope. He balled the pages up and threw them in the trash.

It honestly was an accident that he ran into Carlos while Carlos was being attacked by a monster. It wasn’t an accident that he was carrying his morpher that day. His morpher and communicator had remained with him constantly, a reminder that once he had been worth something. He hadn’t intended to use it.

But when Carlos gave up, everything that Adam had been feeling boiled over. Carlos had given up. He had taken the position from Adam, taken everything, and now he wouldn’t even try?

Someone had to fight. He knew the risks. But once a Ranger, always a Ranger.

Adam morphed.

He wasn’t expecting the pain. Morphing had never hurt before.

He only vaguely remembered the fight, so much of it was concentrating on holding the morph together. It was heartening to see Carlos morph again, and to know that in the end he had stood for what was right.

Even when he demorphed the pain didn’t stop. The world was growing grey around him, and it was hard to stand. His last conscious thought was that he’d done something worthwhile.

When he came to, someone was holding his hand.

“You’re finally awake,” Tanya’s familiar voice said, and he hadn’t realized how much he’d missed her until she was there. He couldn’t understand though, he’d never heard her sound so scared before.

“You’ve been unconscious for three days,” she told him, as he tried to turn his head to face her. It was hard, and everything hurt, but he was sure that the pain was worth it when he saw her face for the first time in nearly a year. 

She was so beautiful. He wasn’t sure why she looked like she’d been crying. He squeezed her hand, and tried to re-memorize every detail of her face.

“Morphing nearly killed you,” she said. “For a while we thought it had.”

“I’m sorry,” he managed to rasp out, his throat dry, and Tanya helped him drink the water that was next to his bed, and it slightly soothed his parched throat. “I didn’t want you to worry.”

Tanya managed a smile although it didn’t quite reach her eyes.

“A little too late for that,” she told him gently.

He tried to protest, but it was hard to keep his eyes open.

“Get some sleep,” he heard her say. “I’ll be with you when you wake up.”

The next time he woke up there was nobody holding his hand. He looked over, and Tanya was sitting in that same chair next to him, snoring softly.

He wasn’t sure if he should wake her or not, he’d already bothered her enough. But soon enough the decision was taken out of his hands when her eyes fluttered open.

She immediately reached for his hand and he squeezed it, gently.

“How are you feeling?” she asked him.

He thought about it for a minute. “Hurts less,” he said finally. It didn’t hurt to talk as much, anyway.

“Can you explain what happened?” she said, and there was no judgement in her tone. She just wanted to know, to understand.

He thought about just not saying anything, but he had hurt her enough. Haltingly, he began to explain. About Iowa. About how he felt he’d failed as a Ranger by leaving the mission undone. About how hard it had been, watching them all move on while he was stuck in limbo. How he hadn’t wanted to bother any of them while they were moving on. How he hadn’t wanted to burden her.

Tanya kissed his hand gently. “You are never a burden,” she told him. “And you never will be.”

For the first time since Adam had lost his powers, he almost began to believe that.

When he was strong enough, he didn’t go back to his parents’ house. Tanya had pretty much insisted that he stay with her while he recovered. For the first time in a while, he took out a notebook and began to write; the story of a singer and a writer who helped change the world with the power of their words. With hope.


End file.
